OMG, I’m In The Pride Parade

Every year, I roll out of bed at the break of dawn to attend the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club Pride Breakfast as one of the MANY guests of State Senator Mark Leno, with whom I am slightly in love. And every year, I follow-up breakfast with watching the parade from the sidelines.

Not this year.

Nope, this year, I found myself on a San Francisco Gay Pride Parade float.

In PG-13 movies, characters are always leaping at opportunities, grabbing life by the horns, and having completely unrealistic experiences. I aspire to be someone who does those sorts of things. Essentially, I aspire to be a free-wheeling fictional character in a (may she be rest in sweet peace) a Nora Ephron movie.

Lo and behold, one of my friends, former Supervisorial candidate and man about town, Bill Hemenger is on the Board of Directors of the Pride Parade. At breakfast, he asked how I planned to watch the parade.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe from in front of the Walgreen’s that has the good snac…”

He grabbed my hands, “Come on our float!”

Two hours later, I found myself standing on the front of the Pride Parade Board of Director’s float, a magnificent piece of artwork dragged down Market Street by a truck. We were 6th in a huge parade, and as a result, I have no idea who else marched. I saw only what was directly in front of us, a magnificent troupe of cheerleaders who occasionally flew through the air.

On the float with me was my friend Bill, and his fellow Board Member, the wonderful Lou Fischer. But I didn’t know anyone else. I was told to stand up front, parking myself at the, to use a nautical term, bow of the float with a charming gentleman named Bob Dockendorff who’d won the annual Pride Heritage Award. Bob and I were perfectly paired, because we both intended to hold on to our one railing the whole time and say things like, “Isn’t this fun!”

At 10:40, our truck jerked forward. And we were off.

I spent 45 minutes next to Bob, just waving at the thousands of people lining Market Street. I screamed, “Happy Pride” countless times. Then I’d look over at Bob and say, “Can you believe this?!?”

Bob would give me a low-key thumbs up, his other arm raised casually into the air and waving. I didn’t do any research on Bob’s remarkable service and contributions until I got home. Bob is a retired Navy Captain with an extraordinary career, both in the military and in San Francisco, where among loads of other things, he served on the Ethics Commission. He even has a scholarship in his name at the University of Iowa for LGBT students. I love Bob!

Anyway there I was. At the front of a float, at the front of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. In fact, I was missing a family reunion for Pride, because being 34 and single wasn’t raising enough eyebrows. “Oh, Beth? She’s IN the Pride Parade.”

But saying yes in the quick moment Bill asked me to join the float was becoming a life experience. I was waving to beautiful strangers and screaming, “Happy Pride! Have a great Pride!” I couldn’t believe I was where I was. Honestly, it was an honor to be in the Pride Parade, if for nothing else the experience of seeing all of the people on the left side of Market Street, covered in rainbow flags and love and enthusiasm and acceptance and pride.

I am an awkward person who, like lots of people, has struggled to find out where I fit in. And while I am a straight lady, this past Sunday I had a 45-minute moment of being a part of the Pride Parade that was a celebration of everyone. It is a moment I will never forget, a moment that made me love this city, and a moment that made me feel proud.

Happy Pride.

Beth Spotswood writes two columns a week for the Culture Blog and full time for CBS San Francisco, in addition to head-writing and co-hosting of the satire webshow, Necessary Conversation. Winner of the 1986 City of Mill Valley Fire Prevention Poster Contest, Beth can be found on Twitter, and in the real world, where she also exists.